baby russian behaviour

[niamhboyfield]

hi everyone i have a 4 month old russian tortoise and we got her 2 days ago.

i just wanted to ask some questions based on what sort of behaviour they should exhibit?
she sleeps a lot during the day but she will roam, she burrows and scratches at the wall but it looks like she’s digging down, ive given her lots of coco coir and topsoil for her burrow in, her hot side is about 34c and the cool side is 24c, she’s absolutely tiny right now and is in a 3ft x 1ft cage with about 20cm height, she’s got a water bowl, slate to eat off, a wood hide, some plastic plants that she hasn’t been trying to eat, and some rocks in the enclosure, also a plant pot to hide in, but i didn’t know if this was all too much or too little or if her behaviour was normal? she seems fine getting handled and going for baths and she eats two meals a day and has ate it all so far everyday, i mist the cage twice if not 3 times a day, i just don’t know what’s normal no matter where i search haha, she squeezes in spaces but will always go back to corners and dig there, is this okay/normal?

 

[SinLA]

First, welcome to the forum!

Second, i'm so sorry to give you bad news, but most everything you have there is not a healthy way to raise her. Babies need to be in an enclosed chamber with high humidity and the box will not even be remotely big enough for him or her if she survives to get larger.

Start with this thread, its a LOT of info, but what you really need to help her: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/info-for-new-people-please-read-this-first.202363/#post-2036954

It looks like maybe you have limited her space in the "hide" part of the box (put a flower pot there instead)? Don't do that, let her have access to that that space, she needs as much floor space/walking space as she can get.

misting is not good for tortoises. You may want to buy a cheap pop-up greenhouse on amazon or somewhere similar to keep the humidity in. Moisten the soil and that will help keep the humidity in.

An adult russian should have 4 ' x 8' of space, that box isn't big enough.

Plastic plants are not great as sometimes they do try to eat them.

What kind of lights do you have and what diet are you giving her?

 

[TammyJ]

Hi and welcome to the forum! Please try to answer the questions, and follow the good advice you are getting, to help your little tortoise thrive and be comfortable! Thanks.